TAXES

In this video, Vin Armani covers a couple of stories about private charities. When faced with government budget cuts, charities rediscover how to fundraise, showing that they don’t need to steal people’s labor (taxes) to survive.

Two Oregon congressional democrats, a senator and a representative, show ground-breaking leadership with their “Path to Marijuana Reform.” Three pieces of excellent legislation showcase the effort by Senator Ron Wyden and Representative Earl Blumenauer. This proposal has excellent cannabis policy goals. It would:

Deschedule Marijuana Completely. No Schedule II, maybe Schedule III, categories that would leave cannabis in the clutches of the DEA. One of the Oregonians’ proposals, the Marijuana Revenue and Regulation Act, would remove cannabis entirely from the Controlled Substance Act, freeing it from most federal control. States would be free to prohibit or legalize with their choices and their votes. As with alcohol and tobacco, marijuana products would be subject to a federal excise tax.

Credit Suisse is once again under international investigation for allegedly helping its clients evade the prying eyes of national tax authorities. This comes after the bank was fined $2.6 billion by the U.S. government in 2014 for helping Americans evade taxes.

A meeting of the US-led anti-Islamic State coalition of 68 countries – the first meeting of the coalition since Donald Trump was elected US President – was held in Washington last week. It was announced that the US policy’s goal is creating «interim zones of stability» – the term used by State Secretary Rex Tillerson. It stops short of «safe zones», which the American military leaders are reluctant to use, despite of the fact that it is used by members of administration. It does not change the gist of the matter, meaning by and large the very same thing.

In Ireland, a reader has sent this gem in. The Communications Minister Denis Naughten is so proud of himself for changing the definition of a ‘television set’ to include your laptop in order to extend the TV license fee to be applied to computers, laptops, and large tablets.

Seven pro-marijuana industry bills were announced Thursday morning by a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers in the House and Senate, suggesting that 2017 may be the year real reform gets through the Capitol.

The sponsors range from longtime marijuana industry allies such as Oregon Democrat U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer to newcomers to the cause such as Florida Republican U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo.

Three bills were introduced in the Senate, along with four more in the House. In the upper chamber, the point man is Oregon Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, who is sponsoring all three bills.

Americans paid a record $374,793,000,000 in general sales and gross receipt taxes to state and local governments in fiscal 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That was up $1,535,980,000—or about 0.4 percent—from the $373,257,020,000 in general sales and gross receipt taxes (in constant 2016 dollars) that state and local governments collected in fiscal 2015. Fiscal 2016 was the third year in a row that general sales and gross receipt taxes set a record.

We just can’t tolerate people driving around in cars they can fix themselves, that are paid-for and which aren’t generating enough “revenue” for the government. They won’t put it in such honest language, of course. They never do....

Americans paid a record $540,701,000,000 in property taxes to state and local governments in fiscal 2016, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That was up $16,748,620,000—or about 3.2 percent--from $523,952,380,000 in property taxes (in constant 2016 dollars) that state and local governments collected in fiscal 2015.

It’s interesting that Trump & Co. have cut funding for US allies, culture, education, the poor, and just about everything else except the Pentagon and Israel. Not a penny was reduced from Israel’s recent grant of $38 billion in arms spending over ten years. Not a peep about this from Congress or Trump. An honest war tax would show Americans the real cost of their imperial adventures and spare their children from having to pay for such dumb wars as Afghanistan and the Mideast.

"We've spent the money , I think everybody understands the debt limit(*http://www.heritage.org/debt/report/2017-debt-limit-should-trigger-spe...)
is a somewhat of a ridiculous concept
I am hopeful this is something the congrrss addresses before the summer break
I think everybody understands we need to raise the debt limit , and that is something we're going to do" Secratary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin

In a press briefing at the Pentagon today, African Command leader Gen. Thomas Waldhauser announced that the US intends to keep ground troops in Libya for the foreseeable future to support “friendly forces,” and to “degrade” the ISIS forces that remain in the country.

Waldhauser did not specify how many US troops are in Libya now, or how many will stay, but did estimate that there were less than 200 ISIS fighters left in Libya. The US had announced the end of the anti-ISIS campaign in Libya back in December, but never fully withdrew from the country.

The US forces were in Libya trying to help the “unity” government defeat ISIS in the city of Sirte. US officials repeatedly claimed the city was totally surrounded, and that no ISIS fighters would get away, though when the fighting finally ended, a substantial number of ISIS fighters did in fact get away.

Webmaster's Commentary:

Translation: this is "military-speak" for the reality that the US government is never leaving Libya because of the oil and the oil pipelines.

The White House issued a blunt warning to House Republicans Thursday night, telling them to vote on an Obamacare replacement on Friday or risk squandering their only chance to get rid of the law they have voted more than 50 times to repeal.

Mulvaney delivered a blunt warning to the GOP conference: Vote on the American Health Care Act or Trump will leave them twisting, Obamacare will remain the law of the land, and they'll be stuck with the blame.

Webmaster's Commentary:

This could backfire. If the vote fails and Obamacare goes on, the corporate media will blame Trump, not Ryan!

Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) said President Donald Trump has been “fed a bill of goods” by House leadership on the proposed House Republican health care legislation to repeal and replace Obamacare.

Consumer electronics giant Apple paid no income tax to Inland Revenue over the past decade despite selling billions of dollars worth of iPhones and iPads to New Zealanders.

The revelations about Apple's local tax bill - in addition to international concerns about its use of havens such as Ireland - have sparked concerns a recently announced government crackdown on multinational tax avoidance may not go far enough.

Green Party co-leader James Shaw said Apple was not paying its fair share.

"It is absolutely extraordinary that they are able to get away with paying zero tax in this country. I really like Apple products - they're incredibly innovative - but it looks like their tax department is even more innovative than their product designers," Shaw said.

It has been nearly four years since the IRS admitted in May of 2013 to singling out and targeting conservative groups, especially tea party groups, for additional scrutiny, onerous paperwork, and even audits. The IRS’s abusive targeting, which lasted for years, was entirely motivated by political animus and caused untold — incalculable, even — devastation to conservatives and to conservative groups. ...

After meeting with, and speaking with, hundreds of local tea party organization members in 2013, I was convinced of three key points: 1) the IRS’s targeting scandal had had a profound impact on organizations’ abilities to attract new members, fundraise, and engage on important policy battles; 2) the chilling effect of the federal government’s actions was real, devastating, and impossible to calculate; and 3) the American public needed to know the full extent of the targeting scandal so we could ensure it would never happen again.

In the latest creeping takeover by Goldman Sachs of the White House, overnight the White House announced that Donald Trump will nominate another Goldman Sachs banker, James Donovan, for a key financial post as deputy Treasury secretary, the White House said on Tuesday, adding another alumnus of the Wall Street investment bank to his administration. Donovan joins his former peers, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and chief Economic advisor, Gary Cohn, who are also former Goldman executives who occupy senior economic posts within the administration.

The Internal Revenue Service (which isn’t a real government agency, by the way – it’s a private corporation that works for the private Federal Reserve!) is in deep doo-doo for flagrantly violating a court order barring the entity from destroying evidence related to its illegal targeting of conservative groups.

When news about the scandal went public, the IRS found itself in even deeper hot water, after it was revealed that the entity hired an outside trial law firm known as Quinn Emanuel to do its dirty work, which included pursuing software giant Microsoft.

Microsoft responded by filing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request calling on the IRS to produce data showing what it was up to, data that was stored on the hard drive of its former director of transfer pricing operations at the IRS Large Business and International Division, Samuel Maruca.

Rachel Maddow. The Hillary Clinton surrogate was squirming during her big breaking news segment trying to find some sort of controversy in Trump’s 2005 tax returns. She found none, so she pivoted back to the Trump-Russia fake news story.

Maddow looked like a complete fool, and with it MSNBC looked more and more like the fake news, we know them to be.

(Raleigh, NC) Americans for Legal Immigration PAC is issuing an ultimatum to President Donald Trump to honor his campaign promise to end his and Obama's DACA Amnesty orders or the national organization will rescind its standing endorsement for Trump originally issued on February 29, 2016.

If Trump does not end his DACA Amnesty for illegals without replacement by Tax Day (April 17), 2017, the loss of ALIPAC's support and endorsement will signal the immigration enforcement movement, Tea Party movement, and American public that Trump can't be trusted on the powerful campaign issue that made his victory over Bush and Clinton possible.

ALIPAC is also launching a national outreach campaign to locate, organize, and mobilize American activists who are willing to stand up and hold Trump accountable for his campaign promises on immigration law enforcement while fighting legislative amnesty in Congress at the same time.

A generation ago, Congress privatized a student loan program intended to give more Americans access to higher education.

In its place, lawmakers created another profit center for Wall Street and a system of college finance that has fed the nation’s cycle of inequality. Step by step, Congress has enacted one law after another to make student debt the worst kind of debt for Americans – and the best kind for banks and debt collectors.

Today, just about everyone involved in the student loan industry makes money off students – the banks, private investors, even the federal government.

"Our Highways, Our Bridges, Our Tunnels Are Unsafe," President Says, and he is going to fix them. President Trump gave a speech to the National Governor's Association on Monday, February 27, 2017. In this excerpt he talks about lowering taxes, free trade, the crumbling infrastructure, and potholes in the roads which destroy big rigs. He talks about his "friend who's in the trucking business" and explains that he can't make a run from Los Angeles to New York and back without destroying the trucks, how it's the worst shape the roads have been in in 40 years.

Federal court litigation provides evidence the Obama administration illegally diverted taxpayer funds that had not been appropriated by Congress in an unconstitutional scheme to keep Obamacare from imploding.

In 2016, a U.S. District judge caught the Obama administration’s Health and Human Services Department acting unconstitutionally and therefore put an end to the illegal diversion of taxpayer funds, but the Obama administration didn’t stop there.

President Trump gave a speech to the National Governor's Association on Monday, February 27, 2017. In this excerpt he talks about lowering taxes, free trade, and the crumbling infrastructure , potholes in the roads which destroy big rigs. If you go to minute 18 he is talking about trade and says that someone said "he's a total nationalist," to which Trump replies, "and that's true, in a very real sense." He then tells about his "friend who's in the trucking business" and explains that he can't make a run from Los Angeles to New York without destroying the truck, how it's the worst shape the roads have been in in 40 years.

Two lawsuits proceeding through the federal courts threaten to expose and disrupt a scheme the Obama administration concocted in 2012 to confiscate all the profits from Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac – the government’s two mortgage giants – with a plan to divert billions of dollars to pay essential Obamacare insurance subsidies that Congress had refused to fund.

President Trump late last week continued his pursuit of broad regulatory reform, targeting in a Feb. 24 order regulations that stifle job creation, impose unnecessary costs or are simply outdated or ineffective, according to an Executive Order issued Friday. Trump directed all federal agencies, including the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, to establish a team to evaluate existing regs and make recommendations about regulations that need “repeal, replacement or modification,” the Executive Order states. The order refers to the teams as Regulatory Reform Task Forces. Nearly all federal agencies will be required to form a task force, to be made up of senior agency officials and others. (Outstanding!!!)

Here are five very important legislative updates from the editor of the great site HighwayRobbery.net: On Feb. 7, 2017 a bill was filed to start the use of photo radar (speed cameras) in California. There's been six previous attempts, just in the last ten years, but the new 2017 attempt is much better organized and planned. The proposed law, AB 342 (Chiu, San Francisco) was written by the cities of San Francisco and San Jose and as filed restricts the cameras to just those two cities. But it is likely that later in 2017 other large and small cities could ask to be added as two of the co-authors of the bill represent a number of medium size cities near San Jose and there are Vision Zero programs in Los Angeles and San Diego.

President Donald Trump has promised the most comprehensive overhaul of the tax system since 1986. That was when a Republican president joined forces with a Democratic House of Representatives and a Republican Senate to lower personal income-tax rates and simplify a messy and outdated tax system.

First of all, I blame Paul Ryan for hindering President Trump’s most valiant efforts to truly help the American people. I am speaking of Trump’s policy changes on ObamaCare and tax cuts for the American people. These things would help the American people more than anything Trump could do.
Matt Drudge took to Twitter to blast Congress for hanging the new president “out to dry” by failing to move on ObamaCare and other agenda items. Drudge included a photo of House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) in the tweets.

The fact is that cutting regulations is as critical as tax relief in turning the US economy around. The two are the holy grail to repatriate a large part of the $2.5 trillion in offshore corporate capital, stimulate domestic investment, and create jobs — all central to “making America great again.” And it’s economic growth and broadening the tax base that can — in the longer run — finance rebuilding US infrastructure and the military without adding to deficits and national debt.

Reverse Robin Hood -Insiders confess that Federal Reserve fiat money policies "get prices up," and "transfer to the rich," and "from those who are prudent to those who are imprudent," that it's "fantastic for every rich person," and "the biggest redistribution of wealth from the middle class and poor to the rich ever."

Tax attorneys advised the family to use a congressionally innovated corporation—a “domestic international sales corporation” (DISC) to be exact—to transfer money from their family-owned company to their sons’ Roth Individual Retirement Accounts. When the family did just that, the Commissioner balked. He acknowledged that the family had complied with the relevant provisions. And he acknowledged that the purpose of the relevant provisions was to lower taxes. But he reasoned that the effect of these transactions was to evade the contribution limits on Roth IRAs and applied the “substanceover-form doctrine,” Appellee’s Br. 41, to recharacterize the transactions as dividends from Summa Holdings to the Benensons followed by excess Roth IRA contributions. The Tax Court upheld the Commissioner’s determination [T.C. Memo. 2015-119].

All of the inherent problems of taxation – the corruption, lack of accountability, waste, inefficiency of collection and spending, etc. – are rooted in the fundamental and simple fact that the government always receives however much it wants from us – regardless of whether it is spent honestly, wisely or effectively. The government – unlike individuals, companies and charities – has the unique ability to raise funds in a way that is completely unrelated to its performance.

What if that changed?

What if the government actually had to earn your money?

What if you could redirect your tax dollars whenever you saw them wasted by a government department; spent in support of a policy that does more harm than good; paid out to cronies for supporting a particular politician or campaign, or just deployed much less efficiently than by a local charity or non-profit that does a particular government job better than the government does it?

EU lawyers, as well as those from US trading partners, are preparing to challenge the proposal which would tax US companies' domestic sales and imports while exempting their exports. The challenge would mark the biggest case in the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) history, with a potential £309 billion annual cost.

A group of prominent Republicans and business leaders pitched a tax on carbon dioxide to top White House aides Wednesday, selling the plan as an economic win that could drive job growth and yield environmental dividends too.

I thank God that my life has been spent in a land of liberty and that He has given me a heart to love my country with the affection of a son.Andrew Jackson Firsts, Lasts & Onlys

First president to be a resident of a state other than Massachusetts or Virginia
First Tennessee representative to the U.S. House
First president to ride a train
First president to be assaulted while in office
First president to be the target of an assassination attempt
First president born to immigrant parents
Last president to serve in the Revolutionary War (he participated at age 13!)
Only president to have been held as a prisoner of war
Only president to raise a Native American child—Lyncoya, who was found orphaned after the Battle of Tallushatchee (1813)
Only president to serve in both the American Revolution and the War of 1812
Only president to pay off the national debt

An investigation into the Panama Papers tax avoidance scandal has exposed the deep chasm between EU policymakers and bankers, lawyers and accountants who create increasingly complex structures to reduce company tax liabilities, which Sputnik has been told amounts to "secrecy" and "deceit."

States fed up with the phony, manipulated central bank currencies are starting to move away from the failing system – and prepare to hedge themselves against the worst case scenarios of monetary collapse.

Put more simply, Utah may soon lead the way of putting “trust” back in God and gold, rather than in God and the Federal Reserve.

The democrats are in full coup mode. They are even advocating the assassination of President Trump. I have put up the pertinent statutes. These traitors and Insurrectionists need to be indicted convicted and imprisoned FOREVER!

(5) the term “domestic terrorism” means activities that—
(A) involve acts dangerous to human life that are a violation of the criminal laws of the United States or of any State;
(B) appear to be intended—
(i) to intimidate or coerce a civilian population;
(ii) to influence the policy of a government by intimidation or coercion; or
(iii) to affect the conduct of a government by mass destruction, assassination, or kidnapping; and
(C) occur primarily within the territorial jurisdiction of the United States.

It is high time to start prosecuting these Insurrectionists. Which is why they are holding up all the cabinet nominations,especially Jeff Sessions. The man has his work cut out for him. He shouldn't have any time to mess with medical pot. There are better things to do!

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States.

Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States and having knowledge of the commission of any treason against them, conceals and does not, as soon as may be, disclose and make known the same to the President or to some judge of the United States, or to the governor or to some judge or justice of a particular State, is guilty of misprision of treason and shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than seven years, or both.

If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both.

Elaine L. Chao was just confirmed yesterday to serve as President Trump's Transportation Secretary. Chao is married to arch-neocon Mitch McConnell and served as assistant Secretary of Transportation under George H.W. Bush, as well as Labor Secretary for 8 years under George W. Bush. On January 11, Senator Deb Fischer questioned Chao about infrastructure and how America is going to pay for all of President Trump's lofty infrastructure projects. Fischer begins by pointing out that the highway trust fund faces a $107 billion dollar shortfall over next 5 years. Chao states that it is imperative for the government to come up with an additional way to fund the highway infrastructure, because the gasoline tax is no longer cutting it.

A Navy probe into an accident involving the guided-missile cruiser Antietam continued on Tuesday, a day after the warship ran aground and gushed oil into Tokyo Bay.

The Ticonderoga-class vessel experienced an “engineering incident” while anchored near Fleet Activities Yokosuka around 8:56 a.m. on Monday, according to a statement issued Tuesday morning by the U.S. Pacific Fleet headquarters in Hawaii.

In an attempt to address the ongoing budget problem in Illinois, Sen. Hutchinson decided to tax Illinois residents’ Second Amendment rights, and by extension, their right to safety. Under SA 2, a 5% tax would be imposed on any membership or access fee for gun clubs, shooting ranges, hunt clubs, training classes and match fees. Not only is this an abhorrent tax on your Second Amendment rights, it also requires that any of those places/people to register with the state and pay an annual fee of $75 just so that they can offer their service or membership with the 5% tax added.

Nine months after the Panama Papers exposed the sheer scale of tax evasion via offshore companies, a new report has revealed the role played by middlemen across the globe involving some of the biggest banks, law firms and accountancy firms in a "systematic" process, Sputnik has been told.

A new analysis of thousands of leaked documents by the Tax Justice Campaign has found that Hong Kong, the UK, Switzerland and the US are among the leading bases for big banks, accountancy and law firms which act as intermediaries in moving money and assets around the globe.

If you live in Missouri and shop on Amazon, get ready to start paying more for your purchases. According to numerous reports, the retail giant is set to start charging a sales tax for all purchases coming from this state.

Many cities across the country have found that taxes from utilities have taken a hit with the rise in the number of people who have decided to “cut the cord” from cable companies. During the second quarter of 2016 alone, over 812,000 people cancelled their paid television subscriptions and switched to various streaming services like Netflix, Hulu, and SlingTV, which only require internet access.

As that telecom tax revenue continues to fall off, cities across the country are losing approximately $50 dollars (much more in larger cities) per cable subscriber in tax. Accordingly, lawmakers have discovered a brand new source of revenue in digital entertainment.

The Senate hearings on Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are very revealing. Mnuchin, who previously worked for Goldman Sachs, says he's concerned and "particularly surprised that the IRS headcount has gone down quite dramatically, almost 30% over the last number of years" amd vows to remedy that problem. In the second video, Munchin says he wants private IRS debt collectors to be more effective. "We can collect tens of millions, or hundreds of millions of dollars, for the American public...particularly in an environment where we are looking for money for so many programs, this to me, seems like a very obvious thing to do." He continues "the majority of Americans voluntarily file their tax returns honestly. But we are all aware that there is tax fraud, and there is tax evasion, and we need to be diligent.